Ironman 70.3 returns to Cebu in April 2024
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippines’ biggest and grandest triathlon race, the Ironman 70.3, will return in Cebu on April 24, 2024, after being skipped this year.
To make it more local, the race was rebranded as the Ironman 70.3 Lapu-Lapu-Cebu from its erstwhile corporate title of Megaworld Ironman 70.3 Philippines.
This was announced by Ironman Group and Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI) General Manager Princess Galura through a social media post on Friday, July 28, 2023.
It can be recalled that Galura and Ironman Group decided to skip this year’s staging of the international triathlon race here in Cebu, supposedly scheduled this August, and instead went on with its Alveo Ironman 70.3 Davao last April. They will also have the Puerto Princesa 70.3 race on November 12.
The international competition made a successful return in 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last year’s race drew over 1,800 triathletes from 40 countries.
For this year, Galura and her team was focused on organizing shorter triathlon races, including the Camarines Sur 5150 race, which was also rescheduled to February next year due to the volcanic activities in Mayon Volcano.
Still, they were able to successfully organize the 5150 Bohol race earlier this month, while it has another 5150 race in Dapitan scheduled this September.
In terms of popularity, The Ironman 70.3 race in Cebu was hailed as the biggest triathlon race in Asia which regularly drew more than 2,000 triathletes worldwide since it moved from Camarines to Cebu in 2012.
True to its grandeur, Cebu has hosted the Asia Pacific championships twice in 2017 and 2018, which fielded in some of the world’s best professional triathletes.
Ironman 70.3 that is scheduled in Cebu next year will likely have a festive theme as it will coincide with Lapu-Lapu City’s annual commemoration of “Kadaugan sa Mactan.”
However, Galura and Ironman Group are yet to announce the start and finish area of the race. In 2022, the race venue was held at Megaworld’s Mactan Newtown.
Despite that, triathletes will still have something exciting to look forward to next year after Galura confirmed that the 90-kilometer bike route will pass through the famous Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) by replying to a triathlete who asked her on her social media post.
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